Stewart Butterfield

Stewart Butterfield
Born	Dharma Jeremy Butterfield 21 3, 1973
Birthplace	Lund, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Businessman, entrepreneur
Known for	Co-founder of Flickr Founder and former CEO of Slack
Children	3

Daniel Stewart Butterfield (born Dharma Jeremy Butterfield on March 21, 1973) is a Canadian billionaire businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded the photo-sharing website Flickr and later founded the workplace messaging platform Slack. Born in the rural community of Lund, British Columbia, Butterfield followed an unconventional path from a philosophy degree to the forefront of the technology industry, creating two of the most influential internet products of the early twenty-first century — both of which emerged as pivots from failed online game ventures. Flickr, which launched in 2004, transformed the way people shared photographs online and was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. Slack, released in 2013, fundamentally changed workplace communication and grew into one of the fastest-growing enterprise software products in history before being acquired by Salesforce in 2021 for approximately $27.7 billion. Butterfield served as CEO of Slack from its founding through its integration into Salesforce. His career has been characterized by an ability to recognize and capitalize on unexpected opportunities, turning the byproducts of unsuccessful projects into category-defining products.

Early Life

Stewart Butterfield was born on March 21, 1973, in Lund, British Columbia, a small, remote community on the Sunshine Coast of Canada. He was given the birth name Dharma Jeremy Butterfield. His early childhood was spent in a setting far removed from the technology hubs where he would later build his career. Butterfield grew up in modest circumstances in the rural Canadian landscape.

Despite his rural upbringing, Butterfield developed an early interest in computers and technology. He later changed his first name from Dharma to Daniel Stewart, going by Stewart professionally throughout his career. His background in a small Canadian community, far from the venture capital networks and technology corridors of Silicon Valley, gave him a perspective that would later influence his approach to product development and company culture.

Education

Butterfield pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where he studied philosophy rather than computer science or engineering — a choice that distinguished him from many of his peers in the technology industry. He has spoken publicly about the value of his liberal arts education in shaping his approach to technology and business. The analytical and critical thinking skills developed through the study of philosophy would later inform his approach to product design and company building.

Following his undergraduate degree, Butterfield continued his academic studies at Clare College, Cambridge, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in England. His time at Cambridge further developed the intellectual framework that he would bring to the technology sector. Butterfield's educational background — rooted in the humanities rather than technical disciplines — became a notable aspect of his public profile, frequently cited in media coverage as evidence that success in the technology industry does not require a traditional computer science education.

Career

Early Ventures and the Creation of Flickr

Before founding Flickr, Butterfield was involved in the development of an online multiplayer game called Game Neverending. The game, which was being developed by the Vancouver-based company Ludicorp, incorporated a photo-sharing feature as part of its broader gameplay mechanics. When the game itself failed to gain traction, Butterfield and his co-founders recognized that the photo-sharing component had significant potential as a standalone product. This pivot led directly to the creation of Flickr, which launched in February 2004.

Flickr quickly became one of the most popular photo-sharing platforms on the internet. At a time when digital photography was becoming mainstream and broadband internet connections were making it feasible for users to upload and share large image files, Flickr provided an intuitive platform that combined photo hosting with social networking features. Users could upload photos, organize them into albums, tag them with descriptive keywords, and share them with communities of like-minded photographers and enthusiasts. The platform was among the first major web applications to make extensive use of tagging — a feature that would become ubiquitous across social media platforms.

The success of Flickr attracted the attention of major technology companies. In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Ludicorp and Flickr in a deal that brought Butterfield and his team into one of the largest internet companies of the era. The acquisition made Butterfield a significant figure in the Web 2.0 movement — the wave of internet companies that emphasized user-generated content, social networking, and collaborative online experiences.

Following the acquisition, Butterfield continued to work at Yahoo! for a period but eventually departed the company. His experience at Yahoo! — which struggled to maintain the innovative culture and rapid development pace that had characterized Flickr as an independent company — shaped his views on corporate culture, organizational communication, and the challenges that large companies face in fostering innovation.

Glitch and Tiny Speck

After leaving Yahoo!, Butterfield returned to the world of online gaming. In 2009, he founded a new company called Tiny Speck and began developing a massively multiplayer online game called Glitch. The game was notable for its whimsical aesthetic and its emphasis on collaboration and creativity over combat — a departure from the dominant models in the online gaming industry at the time.

Glitch was described as a game that encouraged players to "play nice" rather than compete aggressively against one another. The game featured a world populated by imaginative creatures and environments, and players were encouraged to collaborate, explore, and build together rather than engage in the combat-oriented gameplay that defined most massively multiplayer online games.

Tiny Speck was based in Vancouver, and the development of Glitch attracted attention from both the gaming press and the broader technology media. However, despite its creative ambition and positive critical reception, Glitch failed to attract a sufficiently large player base to be commercially viable. The game was shut down in November 2012. In a gesture that reflected Butterfield's collaborative ethos, Tiny Speck released the game's assets — including artwork, animations, and other creative materials — under a Creative Commons license, allowing other developers and artists to use them freely.

Founding of Slack

The failure of Glitch proved to be the catalyst for what would become Butterfield's most significant business achievement. During the development of Glitch, the Tiny Speck team had built an internal communication tool to coordinate their distributed workforce. This tool allowed team members to communicate in real time through organized channels, share files, and search through message archives. When Glitch was shut down, Butterfield and his team recognized — much as they had with Flickr years earlier — that a byproduct of their failed project had the potential to become a successful product in its own right.

Butterfield pivoted Tiny Speck to focus on developing this internal communication tool into a commercial product. The result was Slack, which stands for "Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge." Slack launched in August 2013 and grew at a remarkable pace. The platform organized workplace communication into channels — dedicated spaces for specific projects, teams, or topics — and integrated with a wide range of third-party applications and services. It offered features such as direct messaging, file sharing, and robust search functionality that made it easy for users to find information within their organization's message archive.

The product resonated immediately with technology companies and startups, and its adoption spread rapidly to enterprises across industries. Slack's growth was fueled in part by a freemium business model that allowed teams to use the product for free with limited features, with paid tiers offering additional functionality for larger organizations. Within its first year of public availability, Slack had attracted hundreds of thousands of daily active users, making it one of the fastest-growing business applications in history.

Growth of Slack and Leadership

As CEO of Slack Technologies, Butterfield oversaw the company's rapid expansion from a small startup into a major enterprise software company. He was known for his attention to the product's design and user experience, as well as for cultivating a distinctive company culture. Butterfield emphasized the importance of clear, direct communication — values that were reflected both in the product itself and in the way the company was managed.

Under Butterfield's leadership, Slack Technologies raised significant venture capital funding and achieved a multi-billion dollar valuation. The company chose an unconventional path to the public markets, opting for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2019 rather than a traditional initial public offering. The direct listing allowed existing shareholders to sell their shares directly to the public without the company issuing new stock or using underwriters.

Butterfield's management philosophy included an emphasis on employee growth and accountability. In interviews, he has discussed the role of constructive embarrassment as a motivational tool, suggesting that employees should maintain a "perpetual desire to improve" and that managers should provide direct, honest feedback. He has also been vocal about the problem of "fake work" in corporate environments — activities such as excessive pre-meetings, slide show preparations, and other tasks that simulate productivity without contributing meaningfully to an organization's goals. Butterfield has argued that even senior executives, including CEOs and directors, can fall into patterns of performing such work, and that it is the responsibility of managers to ensure that their teams focus on genuinely productive activities.

Salesforce Acquisition and Departure

In December 2020, Salesforce announced its acquisition of Slack Technologies in a deal valued at approximately $27.7 billion, one of the largest enterprise software acquisitions in history. The acquisition reflected the growing importance of workplace communication and collaboration tools, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had accelerated the adoption of remote work and digital communication platforms worldwide.

Butterfield remained with Salesforce for a transitional period following the acquisition, helping to integrate Slack into Salesforce's broader suite of enterprise products. He eventually departed the company, stepping down from his role as CEO of Slack. His departure marked the end of his direct operational involvement with the company he had founded, though Slack continued to operate as a product within the Salesforce ecosystem.

Personal Life

Butterfield married Jen Rubio, co-founder and CEO of the luggage company Away, in 2020. The couple welcomed a son in 2021. Butterfield has three children in total.

Butterfield and Rubio are notable art collectors. Their collection spans historical and twentieth-century works and has been featured in art publications. The couple served as co-chairs of the Aspen ArtCrush event, an annual fundraiser for the Aspen Art Museum.

The couple have maintained a significant real estate portfolio. They own a historic home in Southampton, in the Hamptons, which was redesigned with the help of designer Jake Arnold and features art displayed both indoors and outdoors. They also own properties in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, including a townhouse and apartments connected by the notable Staple Street skybridge — an architectural oddity linking 9 Jay Street with an apartment at 67 Hudson Street. In late 2025, reports indicated that the sky bridge property was listed for sale.

Recognition

Butterfield has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career for his contributions to the technology industry. In 2005, MIT Technology Review named him to its annual list of top innovators under the age of 35 (TR35), recognizing his work with Flickr and its impact on the way people share and organize photographs online.

In 2005, BusinessWeek included Butterfield on its list of the best leaders, citing his role in building Flickr into a transformative internet product.

In 2006, Time magazine named Butterfield to its annual Time 100 list, which recognizes the most influential people in the world. The honor reflected the significant cultural impact of Flickr and the broader photo-sharing phenomenon it helped create.

Newsweek also profiled Butterfield as part of its coverage of influential technology figures.

Following the success of Slack, Butterfield received additional recognition. In 2015, Vanity Fair included him on its New Establishment List, which profiles influential figures in business, technology, and media. That same year, Advertising Age named Butterfield to its Creativity 50 list, recognizing his influence on business communication and creative leadership. Inc. magazine named Slack its Company of the Year for 2015, with Butterfield featured prominently in the accompanying profile.

Legacy

Stewart Butterfield's career is notable for a recurring pattern: the creation of successful products from the remnants of failed ones. Both Flickr and Slack emerged as pivots from online game projects that did not achieve commercial viability — Game Neverending and Glitch, respectively. This pattern has been widely discussed in business and technology media as an example of the importance of adaptability, the willingness to abandon failing projects, and the ability to recognize value in unexpected places.

Flickr helped define the Web 2.0 era, popularizing concepts such as user tagging, social photo sharing, and community-driven content organization that became foundational elements of subsequent social media platforms. The platform demonstrated that user-generated content could be organized and made accessible at scale, influencing the development of services across the internet.

Slack's impact on workplace communication has been substantial. The platform challenged email as the default mode of business communication and introduced a channel-based messaging model that was adopted by millions of users worldwide. Slack's success helped spawn a broader category of workplace messaging and collaboration tools, and its influence on how organizations communicate persists even after its acquisition by Salesforce.

Butterfield's educational background — a philosophy degree from the University of Victoria and studies at Cambridge — has been cited in media coverage as a counterpoint to the prevailing narrative that success in the technology industry requires a technical education. His career has served as a reference point in discussions about the value of liberal arts education in the technology sector.

His decision to release the assets of Glitch under a Creative Commons license following that game's closure was seen as an act of generosity toward the developer and artist community, and the assets have been used in various independent projects in the years since.